My picket fence and what we did with old windows!

I have two things that I just love! Picket fences and old windows. Ever since we were married almost 16 years ago, I have wanted a cute little house with a white picket fence. I know it sounds corny but gardening is my passion! I especially love cottage gardens so the fence was always a dream of mine.

I also LOVE old windows. When my brother remodeled his house, I made sure hubby brought home all the leftover old windows from the 1920’s. He and my brother just shook their heads all the way back home! I’ve done several things with my old windows. Of course the good old stand-by mirror looks great in my purple kitchen. It’s also handy because I don’t have to turn around every time I talk to my family while I do the dishes.

Finally, after many years of scrimping and saving we got caught up and are debt free (except our house) so we decided to go ahead and put up my picket fence. We paid $800 for fencing that should have been $1500.

It was Labor Day weekend and Lowe’s was offering a coupon where, when you bought $50 or more, you would get $10 off. Each time you purchased something, the register would spit out another $10 off of $50 coupon.

It took us three hours to go to two stores for all of the supplies. In all, I made twenty transactions but saved $200 in coupons and another $500 because the fencing was on sale– $700 for three hours work is a great savings in my book!

I kept telling people who would get in line behind us that we were going to be a while and they were all fine with it and found another line. One lady decided to wait and I told her what I was doing. She said, “Cool, I’ll have to do that!” She had about $600 worth of stuff in her basket so she was glad for that tip!

Then we hauled it home in "old blue" after two pick-up loads and after going to two Lowe’s stores.

(Can we have a moment of silence please as Old Blue is no longer with us. hehehe thank goodness! )

We installed the fence ourselves. Yes, it was a lot of work! It took us a full weekend and then about 10 hours after work for a week or two but we saved another $2000 by installing it ourselves. We did get the auger stuck and had to call in reinforcements (aka my brother and his wife) and they came over to help us finish digging the holes. After measuring and measuring and measuring some more I am positive we have the straightest fence in the state of Kansas!

I just knew I had to have an arbor… OK, actually three arbors. Yes, hubby and my brother were once again shaking their heads, but we needed three the way our yard was arranged. After looking through some magazines, I got inspired for an arbor but didn’t like the trellis they had used on the side. As I was moving my windows around in the garage again, it hit me! I had enough windows to put on each of my arbors as a trellis!

And then I had my wonderful, long awaited picket fence!

You can see that the flowers really love it!

I have to say when we decided to put our house on the market and move back to Colorado because prices had dropped, I just sat down and cried. I really wanted to go back to a better climate but didn’t want to move from my now cute house and I REALLY didn’t want to leave my picket fence. I have to say that the picket fence has been my absolute favorite thing about this house! I’m going to miss it but the mountains are calling me! Tawra

Quesiton, I’m thinking of getting a new wall oven and stove top because of sales are mine are decrepit; which makes me think about the countertop…Where does one stop? If you keep going how do you decide on colors?

Where do you stop? It reminds me of the story where the woman got new throw pillows and then those made her couch look worn so she had to get a new couch which then made her carpet look old so she had to get new carpet….. HA!HA!

It is hard sometimes to know where to stop. You just need to decide how much you want to spend and is it going to cost more to put in the new stove and then have it tore out later to replace the counter top. Check prices on these things too. Sometimes things aren’t as much as you think they will be or you can wheel and deal them (depending on where you get it from) to give you a good deal to have it all done at once.
There are several things involved so I’m not sure if that helped or not.

Colors are easy. Look through magazines and find colors in rooms you like or go on line. If it is a kitchen you need a picture of type in kitchen and you can get hundred’s of pictures to look at.

Get neutrals in appliances if you can but most of all check to see how easy they will be to clean. Many think there is no way they can live without stainless steel but if you have kids they can be hard to clean (the appliances not the kids). They are trying to make them easier to clean I think now because everyone thought stainless was the be all end all until they started living with them and had trouble cleaning them.

You poor thing Nan. Since MO is one step worse then Kansas. HA!HA! Just teasing. You know us Kansans have to tease our Missourian rivals. I get to go back with Tawra for the first couple of weeks after she moves so we both will gaze at the mountains and breathe the dry air for you.

Tawra—Love the LOWES tale! Will have to show it to Dear Hubby aka “Does your husband work at LOWES????” Man. A lot of people don’t “get” how those coupons “work” so I am glad you explained it too! Not to brag abut Lowes also does things like—Building workshops for kids (check the individual store and get there early! These are very popular!) They make real items like birdhouses and toys. With real tools! They also get aprons and other gifts.

This past weekend they gave away over a million trees for kids to plant.

And always always always find out where the “Scratch n Dent” section is! You never know what you might find there! A lot of times makers will not take the items back (too costly) and Lowes will sell them “As is”—sometimes you can see a flaw or even a large area of damage so inspect carefully but a lot of times these are minor issues and can be easily hidden or worked around. Some are “Special Orders” that were not the right thing or the wrong size etc but if you can use em they can save you tons. You can also have the staff call other area LOWES for you to see what might be available.

Also—a home hint—you can buy cans of mis-mixed paint at the paint counter sometimes and either have them re-tinted or use the lighter ones as primer for a big savings.

Love the cute arbor—–maybe after WE move I will get one!!!! I see used windows all the time at yard sales! Or ask when you see someone getting new improved windows if you can haul the old ones away.
judith

Beautiful arbors! I’ve wanted to do something similar for years, but unemployment and the huge hit on income have prevented me from doing so. I HAVE had two walls built in our remodelling around an antique window and antique door. Still love looking through them!